An Unfinished House

That's right, it's taken me nearly 4 years but this little beauty is blog post number 300. Ok, that's all I've got. I have lot's to share from YES, to soccer, to gaping wounds but so little time to do so. Bear with me and in the meantime enjoy this: (I found her being dragged down the main road in Laureles in this half-a-suitcase by her slightly older brother and cousin. I found it hilarious - I probably should have felt pity.) just not feeling up to traveling

I mentioned yesterday that cousin and boyfriend showed up in their motorhome the other week... ok, this is them really, though I think I prefer the other photo. Anyshway, as is our wont and custom, we took the two unsuspecting gringos into the mountains under the pretext of a lovely stroll through the forest terminating at a delightful and inviting waterfall. Nothing could be further from the truth really; it's actually similar to a forced death march with steep inclines and switchbacks nearly the entire leg of the journey. One is forced to traverse rock slides, slippery declines and inclines that grade at a frightful pitch. The journey leads you to a waterfall to be sure but in order to enjoy it you have to descend a rock wall made slippery by spray, moss and worms and then climb over boulders of the same. The hike, if it can be called that, is essentially a 2 hour-long test in patience and endurance - 5 minutes in you want it to be over. This is Nelson's schtick really, he ...

So it's been a week since last I posted which is out of character for me I know. I have a good excuse though: my cousin and her boyfriend came to visit: as you can see they came dressed prepared for any weather that might befall us. That and I spent a good portion of the week in the hospital with my goalie from the U-14 team; the combination of the two left me with little time or energy to even think about blogging. Anyways, the cousin and boyfriend flew the coop and goalie-sans-knee is back in the community and so I am back with a vengeance. I realized soon after blogging my last post that I failed to give any shots of the final product so the following then are a few slides of the final touches the kids put on my wall of dirt. where once you could hang from the bottom of this tube, it is now covered completely by earth the kids scoured the community for spare tires to build a make-shift retaining wall. had they not all of that earth that they hauled would have washed away with ...

The other day a crew of children showed up at my door fairly early in the morning - that's not terribly remarkable as it tends to happen almost daily. What made this day unique was that this particular group of kids took it upon themselves to start filling in the space behind the retaining wall that sits in front of my porch. It had a pretty steep drop and I had been thinking to fill it in for sometime but had never had the time or the dirt to do so. This particular morning though the kids were hit with the desire to serve and serve they did. They went looking for dirt and rocks throughout the community and hauled it back in buckets for a good 4 hours. They had a soccer scrimmage in the afternoon so they stopped at noon so a to conserve energy but the next 3 days were the same; they showed up at 8 hauled dirt in pans, buckets and sacks for a few hours and then dispersed. It made me smile because it was work that I really wanted done but had never asked that they do it - it just hap...

Cesar is the youngest son of our neighbors Oscar and Pancha and he is forever hanging about our windows or slyly trying to creep into the house. He's a lovable kid and happened to be one of Becca Serra's favorites when she came to visit. He has a bit of a speech impediment though which he is often shy about. Yesterday I showed up to the house in the afternoon and it was surprisingly dead, the only sound to be heard was coming from around back where we have our sink and a hammock strung up under the eaves. There I found Manuel taking a break from his studies and working with Cesar on pronouncing words - his patience, perservance and insistence on perfection was remarkable. Cesar for his part did well too, the hardest word for him though was Melocoton (the emphasis is on the last 'o', it means peach) , he just couldn't get it and at one point said "Me lo comi un monton." or "I ate a lot".

I could go on forever about the wonders of hellgrammites and the glorious fish-bait they make but I'll spare you all the boring details and inform you that hellgrammites, which live in the creeks and streams of Appalachia, turn into this: The Dobson Fly. What one is doing clinging to the wall of my front porch in Honduras is beyond me.